Vanadium alloy



40 to. vanadium as they are present in the ferro Patented ins-4,1 9. i

UNITED smEs PATENT J oFmcaj.

OF DELAWARE. k

No Drawing.

This invention relates .to'a composition of alloy containing-vanadium as the major con 1 stituent, the remainder being principally" iron, and especially to a ferro-vanadium alloy containing over 85% of vanadium."

In the manufacture "of vanadium steel in the basic open hearth process, the vanadium is added to the molten steel after it has been tapped into the ladle. If vanadium were added to the steel bath in such a furnace instead of in theladle, there would be considerable loss of vanadium, owing to the oxidizing conditions existing in Jthe furnace. In the acid open hearth or the electric furnace process, vanadium is sometimes added in the furnace, but also some of the alloy, especially material in finely divided state, is added in theladle. It is well known in steel making practice that the less the total amount of cold material added in the-ladle the better and ,more uniform arethe ingots obtained from pouring such steel. The cold material intro- I duced into the'ladleabsorbs heatin its process of melting and diss and consequently reduces the temperature of the ladle; thus running into the danger of.

pouring the steel into the molds at a-lower temperature than'that desired for the production of sound ingots.

.A further deficiency of addition of alloys in the ladle is the fact that'whatever impurities are contained in the alloy are retained 'in the steel, since no purification or oxidation takes place in the I ladle. The amount of vanadium metal added to thesteel is calculated from the vanadium content of the alloy added; therefore, Whatever percentage of other elements as impurities, are

' present in the ferro alloy, are introduced and retained in the steel in the same relative ratio alloy. The generally used alloys of vanadivmmmum ALLbY.

- in-this case than in the there is no difiiculty in getting the entire lving into the molten steel BYRAMJi D. sAkLAmwALLA, or GRAFTON, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIeNoR'To vANAmuM CORPORATION or AMERICA, or BRIDGEVILLE,

PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION Application filed February 2, 1928. Serial No. 251,465.

half the present extent, In the manufacture of alloy'steels of very high-grade 'quality,"

this is a decided advantage. o

By the composition of my invention, I proposetoobviate all theabove mentioned deficiencies by producing an alloy containing at least 85%, vanadium, the balance being mostly iron. Am alloy containing this high percentage of vanadium is very'readily'solu ble in molten steel, much more so, than the lower percentage alloys, on account of its greater chemical reactivity. Further, since the amount ofmetalloids, such as silicon, carbon, etc. that are introduced into per unit of vanadium added are so much less, the diffusion and solution of this alloy is more complete and regular since carbides, silicides,

lten steel and other such compounds are present only to a very negligible extent. Also, since the bulk of material added per ton of steel is less amount of alloy into the ladle before the appearance ofany slag from the tap hole.

The alloy of my invention, consisting approximately from 85% to95% or more V3113? generally used alloy,

dium, can be producedin the electric furnace by the use-of a suitable reducing agent, such as silicon; however, I prefer to produce same by the reduction of a very high grade num as reducing agent, according to the well known process of alummo 'thermlc reductlon'.

so of vanadium pentoxide by means of alumi- An alloy produced by this process from a high-grade oxide has the advantage of notbeing contaminated With carbon and silicon toa'n appreciable extent, whichwould be the case were it produced by reduction by means of silicon in the electric furnace. If care is exercised in the preparation of the vanadium pentoxide; and the reduction material, keeping same free from excessive percentages of impurities, a resulting alloy can be obtained by alumino-thermic reduction containing vanadium and iron alone with negligible percentages of deleterious impurities, and ,in

which the silicon is less than 1.25% and the carbon less than .50%..Such an alloyenables, the steelmaker to make his additions without fear of altering the composition of his finished steel in regard to impnrities, 1 A fer'ro-vanadium containing between 1-0 thus avoiding the possibility of' obtaining about 85% to 95% vanadium. reject heats of the finished steel. 2. A farm-vanadium containing between While I have specifically described the preabout 85 to 95% Vanadium, less than 1.25% i 5 fund manner of carrying out my process, silicon and less than .50% carbon, the reit will be understood that the process may mainder being principally iron. 1

be otherwise practiced within the scope of In testimony whereof I have hereunto set the following claims. my hand.-

1 claim:- I i BYRAMJIY D. SAKLATWALL'A 

